1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to hand held, roller-type paint applicators. More particularly, it relates to electrically powered devices for applying paint to such hand held, roller-type paint applicators.
2. Discussion of the Background
Many hand held paint applicators (short-handled as well as long-handled) have a paint roller component whose interior cavity is supplied with paint that is placed under pressure by an electrically powered pump. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,175,300; 4,576,553; 4,639,156; 4,842,432 and 5,454,656 teach a variety of such paint applicators. U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,522 (“the '522 patent”) is of particular interest to this patent disclosure because it teaches an electrically powered paint applicator having both a paint applicator roller and a paint feed roller that are placed in rolling contact with each other. An inside cavity of the paint feed roller is filled with paint that is placed under pressure in order to force the paint through the paint-porous body of the paint feed roller and on to its outside surface. The paint ladened outside surface of the paint feed roller is placed in rolling contact with the paint applicator roller. This arrangement results in paint being transferred from the outside surface of the paint feed roller to the outside surface of the paint applicator roller. The paint applicator roller is then placed in rolling contact with a surface (such as a wall) that is to be painted.
Unfortunately, pressurized paint rollers have been plagued with several persistent drawbacks. Not the least of these follows from the fact that their paint pressurizing pumps must create fluid pressures great enough to force paint through their porous paint roller bodies, or through an array of small holes in those roller bodies. Such pressures often cause the roller's paint seals to leak. This leakage generally causes unsightly paint applications as well as messy conditions that cause a great deal of extra cleanup work. Moreover, these pressurized rollers do not always evenly supply paint to the outside surface of the pressurized rollers even when their paint seals do not leak. This uneven paint application on to a roller's outside surface often results in blotchy and otherwise unsightly paint applications. Pressurized paint applicators are also difficult to take apart and put together for cleaning and maintenance operations. Moreover, pressurized paint rollers are rather expensive compared to hand powered, non-pressurized paint rollers.
Consequently, many painters—professional as well as amateur—prefer to use hand powered roller devices whose paint applicator rollers are not pressurized, but rather are re-supplied with paint simply by rolling them in an open tray of paint. These paint trays usually have a lower paint reservoir portion and a higher, inclined plane portion. There are, however, several drawbacks associated with hand powered paint rollers vis-à-vis their working relationships with paint trays. Not the least of these is the fact that the weight of the paint on a bottom semicircular portion of a paint roller that has been dipped in a paint tray reservoir will cause that roller to rotate such that the paint ladened portion of the roller will, under the influence of gravity, go to its lowermost rotative position. The problem then becomes how to apply paint to the top semicircular portion of the roller that has not yet been dipped into the paint. Immersing the entire roller in the tray's paint reservoir is not a good technique because such immersion will cause too much paint to be placed on the roller, and worse yet on the paint roller's mounting arm—from which paint will profusely drip on to the floor next to a wall or other building component that is being painted.
As an alternative method of getting paint on the entire circumference of the paint roller, many painters will simply roll the half immersed paint roller up the inclined plane portion of a paint tray in order to more evenly distribute the available paint about the entire circumference of the paint roller. However, by the time the paint on the lower half of the roller is more evenly distributed about the entire circumference of the paint roller, an excessive amount of the paint is often squeezed from the roller and, hence, is not available for application to the surface being painted (e.g., a room wall).
Consequently, one of the most commonly used techniques to apply paint to an undipped portion of a paint roller is to rotate the roller 180 degrees—by hand. The hand powered 180 degree rotation of the roller is tedious and messy. Nonetheless, it must be carefully done in order to prevent blotchy looking paint applications. That is to say that the paint-free semicircular side of the roller must be rotated by hand and submerged into the paint reservoir in the open paint tray. Thus, it is only after two dips and one hand powered rotation of the roller that there will be an appropriate amount of paint covering both semicircular sides of the paint roller. At this point most painters simply begin to back the paint roller up the paint tray's inclined plane portion in order to more evenly spread an appropriate amount of the paint on the entire circumference of the roller. After 8-10 seconds of such paint evening action, the roller is usually ready to transfer its evened paint supply onto a wall, etc. that is being painted.
The electric paint tray of this patent disclosure, among other things, obviates the need for the 180 degree hand powered rotation of the paint roller. It also rotates the roller component of the hand held paint applicator in a manner that more evenly spreads an appropriate amount of the paint over the entire circumference of said roller component. It also greatly reduces the frequency of the painter's need to kneel or bend over a paint tray.